Summery: When Seamus gets bored, all hell breaks lose as he unleashes the one thing that could cast fear into the heart of Hogwart's aging headmaster and bring chaos unto the ancient school: a game of truth or dare.
CHAPTER THREE: WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS ANYWAY?
The Gryffindor common room was complete and utter chaos, to say the least. Students from every house were congregating about the portrait hole trying to make their way inside and every once in a while breaking out into fights. Most of said fights happened to involve the small number of Slytherins who had chosen to come, for whatever reason.
The Gryffindors found themselves busy attempting to fit all of the students who had shown up in their, although not small, admittedly not very large common room. It was starting to get a wee bit cramped. Other Gryffindors kept themselves occupied with their vehement refusal to let any and all Slytherins into their den. Still others were searching frantically for the instigator of all this nonsense, one Mr. Seamus Finnegan.
Unfortunately, Seamus was nowhere to be found. The general assumption was that he had fled to avoid certain death, namely in the form of an irate, red-headed Ron Weasley who had announced to the general populace that he would "kill that bloody Irishman" upon hearing that Seamus's invitation for 'The Game' had been extended to Slytherins. If there was one thing Ron couldn't handle, it was letting Slytherins into his common room, although just about anything concerning the Slytherins was something he found himself hard pressed to deal with.
Speaking of hard to deal with, the whole situation was something that many of the gathered students found themselves unwilling to handle, and happened to be the cause of more than a few headaches. Despite everyone's best efforts, Ron would not stop throwing his little hissy fit and the Slytherins would not stop shouting about how they were being discriminated against. The whole place was in an uproar.
Harry, Hermione, Dean, and Neville were some of the only students not involved in the disaster. Well, that's not true per say in the fact that Harry and Hermione attempted to calm Ron down and get him to stop screaming for at least long enough to let his face cool down to a less violent shade of red than his hair. But, other than that small contribution, the four seventh year Gryffindors stayed out of the whole 'Seamus's Brilliant Plan Gone Awry' fiasco that was currently spilling out into the hallway.
Every once in a while Dean would lift his head from where it was resting in his palms just long enough to ascertain the damage and shake his head as he mumbled various comments about Seamus, plans, and disasters. Neville was a practically quivering mess, staring in wide eyed horror at the scene in front of him. Hermione continued to rant and rave about inappropriate behavior and disorderly conduct to her three friends, none of whom were paying her any mind. Harry placidly took in everything, cringing every once in a while whenever someone took a punch or a rather harsh insult and rolling his eyes at some of the more amusing scenes.
Just as things were really starting to get out of control, an authoritative voice was heard above the commotion. "Stop that this instant! I said stop! QUIET!!!" A hush fell upon the assembled students as they froze in whatever position they had been upon hearing the yell, resulting in a rather comic display. "What is going on here?!" the voice continued irrately as a pointed hat could be seen above the heads of the students moving towards the center of the crowd. The hat turned out to belong to a rather incensed looking McGonagall, who glared at all those present as she tried to ascertain just what on earth was going on. In all her years, she had never seen anything like this.
McGonagall bore her gaze in a sweeping circle until her eyes rested on the upraised hand of Hermione Granger, always eager to provide the answer to any question. "Please explain, Miss Granger," the transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor house spoke, nodding her head in Hermione's direction and waiting for her to proceed.
"Well, you see..." Hermione begin, before finding herself at somewhat of a loss of words. It was a new experience for her. Determinedly, she continued: "Seamus thought it would be a good idea--for interhouse cooperation and all--if we got together to play a game. He told everyone to meet here so we could play truth or dare and things just...got a little...out of hand, I guess..." Hermione stopped there, feeling as if there was more that she should say, but not knowing what it was.
McGonagall raised a pencil thin black eyebrow at Hermione in a skeptical sort of way, a look which she had stolen from Snape. "So, this was all Mr. Finnegan's idea?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice, reminding everyone of a volcano about to explode, which probably wasn't far from the truth. Despite herself, Hermione nodded in answer to the question, silently praying forgiveness from Seamus for giving him away and getting him in trouble with McGonagall. "And where is Mr. Finnegan at this moment?" the transfigurations teacher continued to press, shifting her gaze about to see if there was anyone who appeared to know the answer.
The truth was, though, that no one knew where Seamus had gone. One minute he had been there, explaining what was going to happen to the Gryffindors before everyone else arrived, and then, the next minute, he had disappeared. He had mentioned something about wanting to make the truths more interesting, but that was the last anyone had heard of him.
Just as McGonagall was about ready to lash out at any unfortunate student who happened to catch her eye, a new figure entered the picture. It just so happened to be Dumbledore. No one knew how he had known that there was trouble brewing in the Lion's den (McGonagall had been fetched by a frightened third year), but the point was that he did. Perhaps he really was omniscient, or maybe one of the portraits in his office had tipped him off.
Stepping calmly up to the crowd, as was his nature, Dumbledore politely inquired, "Now what seems to be going on here?" He smiled benignly at the students in the way that made many question his sanity, though his gaze was steady and intense.
McGonagall broke in before any of the students had a chance to answer. "It seems that Mr. Finnegan had the brilliant idea to have an interhouse game, resulting in the fiasco you see before you," she informed the headmaster concisely.
Dumbledore seemed to ponder the information for a moment before his eyes crinkled in a sincere smile. "Well, I think it's a wonderful idea!"
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note: Yes, yes, I know I haven't gotten to the actual game yet, but...we're almost there. I hope you found this chapter interesting anyway. And thanks to everyone who reviewed. I truly am surprised, though pleasantly so, by the positive feedback I've gotten for this silly little fic.